// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did the Jen language say to the tourist? "You can't speak for us".
| Dza | |
|---|---|
| Jen | |
| idzə | |
| Pronunciation | [ídzə̀] |
| Native to | Nigeria |
| Region | Gombe State, Taraba State, Adamawa State |
Native speakers | 100,000 (2014)[1] |
Niger–Congo?
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | jen |
| Glottolog | dzaa1238 |
Dza, also called Jen, is an Adamawa language of Nigeria[2] spoken in the border regions of Gombe, Adamawa, and Taraba states along the northern bank of the Benue River.
Phonology
[edit source]The following is the phonology of Dza:[3]
Vowels
[edit source]| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ɨ | u |
| Close-mid | e | ə | o |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Open | a |
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | ĩ | ɨ̃ | ũ |
| Close-mid | ə̃ | ||
| Open-mid | ɛ̃ | ɔ̃ | |
| Open | ã |
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i̤ | ṳ | |
| Close-mid | e̤ | ə̤ | o̤ |
| Open-mid | |||
| Open | a̤ |
Consonants
[edit source]| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labio-velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | plain | p b | t d | (c) (ɟ) | k ɡ | k͡p ɡ͡b | |
| lab. | pʷ bʷ | tʷ | kʷ gʷ | ||||
| palat. | pʲ bʲ | (kʲ) (gʲ) | |||||
| implosive | (ɓ) | (ɗ) | |||||
| Affricate | plain | t͡s d͡z | t͡ʃ d͡ʒ | ||||
| lab. | t͡sʷ d͡zʷ | t͡ʃʷ d͡ʒʷ | |||||
| Fricative | plain | f v | s z | ʃ ʒ | h | ||
| lab. | sʷ zʷ | ||||||
| palat. | fʲ | ʃʲ | |||||
| Nasal | plain | (m̥) m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
| lab. | mʷ | nʷ | ɲʷ | ŋʷ | |||
| palat. | mʲ | ||||||
| Rhotic | r | ||||||
| Approximant | lateral | l | |||||
| lat. lab. | lʷ | ||||||
| plain | (j̥) j | ||||||
| lab. | ɥ̥ ɥ | ʍ w | |||||
- The implosives are weak in Dza, [b] and [d] can take the place of their implosive counterparts but the implosive sounds cannot be substituted in place of [b] or [d].
- The palatal stops /c/ and /ɟ/ seem to be dialectal, either presenting as [c] and [ɟ] or as palatalized velar stops [kʲ] and [gʲ].
- The /m̥/ phoneme is rare, only occurring in m̥ɨ́ 'five' and other related words, but its usage is very frequent.
- /r/ only occurs in loanwords but is frequent in use.
- All approximant phonemes become voiceless before nasal vowels, allowing for an allophonic [j̥] while the other voiceless approximants /ʍ/ and /ɥ̥/ are true phonemes.
Tone
[edit source]Like most West African languages, Dza is a tonal language. There are five main tonemes: three level tones (high, mid, and low) and two contour tones (rising and falling). Tone is not orthographically marked.
Orthography
[edit source]Dza uses an alphabet of 50 letters based on the Latin alphabet. Proposed in 2008, the orthography uses a combination of multigraphs and diacritics to correspond to the phonemes of Dza, using the letters <w> and <y> to represent labialization and palatalization, respectively. While [j̥] is an allophone of /j/ in Dza only occurring before nasal vowels, it has its own grapheme <hy>. When /ŋ/ is word-initial and labialized, it is represented as <n>; otherwise, it is written as <ng>.
| Letter(s) | Phoneme(s) | Example |
|---|---|---|
| a | /a/ | ba /bá/ "goat" |
| /a̤/ | hywa /ɥ̥à̤/ "knife" | |
| ã | /ã/ | kã /kã̄/ "big" |
| b | /b/ | be /bē/ "rope" |
| /ɓ/ | buchi /ɓút͡ʃì/ "arrow" | |
| ch | /t͡ʃ/ | chi /t͡ʃì/ "cloud" |
| ɔ | /ɔ/ | yɔ /jɔ̄/ "pig" |
| ɔ̃ | /ɔ̃/ | sɔ̃sɔ̃ /sɔ̃́sɔ̃̀/ "egret" |
| d | /d/ | dəng /də̀ŋ/ "music" |
| /ɗ/ | dɨ /ɗɨ̀/ "to take" | |
| dz | /d͡z/ | idzə /ídzə̀/ "Dza language" |
| e | /e/ | he /hē/ "wife" |
| /e̤/ | hehe /hē̤hē̤/ "tribute" | |
| ɛ | /ɛ/ | wɛ /wɛ́/ "yam" |
| ɛ̃ | /ɛ̃/ | hɛ̃ /hɛ̃́/ "all" |
| ə | /ə/ | pə /pə̀/ "to pierce, stab" |
| /ə̤/ | hywə /ɥ̥ə̤̄/ "tiger" | |
| ə̃ | /ə̃/ | kə̃ /kə̃́/ "to squeeze" |
| f | /f/ | fi /fǐ/ "sun, daylight" |
| g | /ɡ/ | ga /gà/ "mane" |
| gb | /g͡b/ | gbə /g͡bə́/ "to break" |
| gy | /ɟ/ | gyɛ /ɟɛ̀/ "beside, near" |
| h | /h/ | ho /hò/ "bag" |
| hm | /m̥/ | bwahmɨ /bʷàm̥ɨ́/ "five" |
| hw | /ʍ/ | hwə /ʍə̀/ "clay" |
| hy | [j̥] | hyə̃ /j̥ə̃́/ "animal, meat" |
| hyw | /ɥ̥/ | hywi /ɥ̥ī/ "smoke" |
| i | /i/ | ki /kí/ "stalk" |
| /i̤/ | ki /kī̤/ "mat" | |
| ĩ | /ĩ/ | kĩ /kĩ́/ "to clean" |
| ɨ | /ɨ/ | pɨ /pɨ̄/ "space" |
| ɨ̃ | /ɨ̃/ | pɨ̃ /pɨ̃̄/ "hoe" |
| j | /d͡ʒ/ | ji /d͡ʒí/ "horn" |
| k | /k/ | ku /kú/ "head" |
| kp | /k͡p/ | kpɛ /k͡pɛ̌/ "eagle" |
| ky | /c/ | bəmpɨkyĩ /bə̀mpɨ̀cĩ́/ "tomorrow" |
| l | /l/ | lə /lə́/ "tongue" |
| m | /m/ | mi /mí/ "beer" |
| n | /n/ | na /nǎ/ "mother" |
| /ŋ/ | nwa /ŋwá/ "mouth" | |
| ng | /ŋ/ | ngə /ŋə́/ "to drive" |
| ny | /ɲ/ | nyi /ɲí/ "heart" |
| o | /o/ | so /sò/ "mouth cavity" |
| /o̤/ | so /sò̤/ "elephant" | |
| p | /p/ | pa /pā/ "barn" |
| r | /r/ | dəro /də̀rò/ "book" |
| s | /s/ | sa /sà/ "island" |
| sh | /ʃ/ | shə /ʃə̀/ "rat" |
| t | /t/ | ta /tǎ/ "father" |
| ts | /t͡s/ | tsɛ /t͡sɛ̄/ "peanut" |
| u | /u/ | hu /hú/ "new" |
| /ṳ/ | hu /hṳ̀/ "grass" | |
| ũ | /ũ/ | hũ /hṹ/ "shoe" |
| v | /v/ | vĩ /vĩ̄/ "to write" |
| w | /w/ | wu /wú/ "to come" |
| y | /j/ | yi /jǐ/ "to swim |
| yw | /ɥ/ | ywa /ɥá/ "wind" |
| z | /z/ | za /zà/ "vulture" |
| zh | /ʒ/ | zhĩzhĩ /ʒĩ̀ʒĩ̀/ "falcon" |
References
[edit source]- ↑ Dza at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
- ↑ Adelberger, Jörg; Blench, Roger (2026). "The peopling of the Muri Mountains, Northern Nigeria: evidence from linguistics and ethnography". AAeO - Afrikanistik-Aegyptologie-Online. doi:10.18716/OJS/AAEO/2026_12031.
- ↑ Othaniel, Nlabephee (September 2020). "Verbal morphosyntax in Dza, an Adamawa language of Taraba State" (PDF). Langage, langues et cultures d'Afrique.
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